After swapping out my current dana 35 rear axle in my ZJ for a younger model I'll be left with the spare old axle, upper and lower control mounts, old shocks and a spare pair of springs. Is there a good reason why a couldn't fab mounting points and use it all to make up a camping trailer?

Ive only ever seen leaf springs on trailers, never coil.

Do I need to modify the diff in any way or strip out parts?

This will be my first trailer build although im clear on design and it will pretty much end up as an M416 clone as they are rare as hell in the uk.

__________________"Axeheads are supposed to be sharp, but you are one blunt tool."
FLynes

If you love wealth more than liberty,the tranquility of servitude more than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains sit lightly on your shoulders and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
-Samual Adams

A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
Thomas Jefferson

"Your right, the Tea Party and the OWS are the same, just like the America Revolution and the French Revolution were the same. The only problem is the American Revolution ended with Liberty, Freedom, Justice for all and a shining light upon a hill. The French Revolution ended with lynchings, guillotines, murder and socialism. So yeah, I could see how one could confuse the two..."
Mac Wilson

Well they are going to be sitting here from the axle swap and I have all the arms springs and shocks, just needbto buy another wheel. Axles in the uk tend to be pretty expensive and are pretty mych made for tiny trailer wheels of around vten inches. I figured whilst not only being free the d35 would take a crap load of weight compared to most units in the uk. The trailer would also ride at the same height as the jeep.

Like I said, just toss iit in there, but remember you have to run it complete.

__________________"Axeheads are supposed to be sharp, but you are one blunt tool."
FLynes

If you love wealth more than liberty,the tranquility of servitude more than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains sit lightly on your shoulders and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
-Samual Adams

A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
Thomas Jefferson

"Your right, the Tea Party and the OWS are the same, just like the America Revolution and the French Revolution were the same. The only problem is the American Revolution ended with Liberty, Freedom, Justice for all and a shining light upon a hill. The French Revolution ended with lynchings, guillotines, murder and socialism. So yeah, I could see how one could confuse the two..."
Mac Wilson

Always thought it would be cool to do that and hook an alternater up to the yoke so you can have batteries in the trailer for camp stuff like lights and radio probably not really practical but thought it would be cool

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hilldweller

Ordinary cars lie to you. They tell you that everything is controlled, warm, safe, smooth ---- we know this is a general falsehood. There is extreme beauty in the world and the best way to find it is to be out in it --- all the way. In a Jeep. Cause you can't get there in a Camry.

Always thought it would be cool to do that and hook an alternater up to the yoke so you can have batteries in the trailer for camp stuff like lights and radio probably not really practical but thought it would be cool

I never thought of that, cool idea.

Using an old axle is a good idea IMHO, same ride height and spares of everything. Rolling resistance will not be significant the only issue I see is if you want brakes but you could fab some electric trailer brakes on it.

If you have the alternator geared to generate useful power while crawling, it would esplode at highway speeds. Better solution is to run a 7pin RV plug with a constant 12v power supply already wired in. Charge the batteries with a solar panel and you could feed the trailer batteries with both solar and the jeep batteries.

__________________"Axeheads are supposed to be sharp, but you are one blunt tool."
FLynes

If you love wealth more than liberty,the tranquility of servitude more than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains sit lightly on your shoulders and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
-Samual Adams

A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
Thomas Jefferson

"Your right, the Tea Party and the OWS are the same, just like the America Revolution and the French Revolution were the same. The only problem is the American Revolution ended with Liberty, Freedom, Justice for all and a shining light upon a hill. The French Revolution ended with lynchings, guillotines, murder and socialism. So yeah, I could see how one could confuse the two..."
Mac Wilson

Considering the axle would be borderline "disposable", couldn't you simply remove the carrier and weld a bead around the shaft to keep it in place? I'm trying to picture the shafts with the carrier and spiders removed in my mind, and it seems like a raised bead around the shaft would keep it from sliding through the inner bearing.

The axle shafts rely on the carrier/spider gears to center themselves at the spline end.

It's not a big deal to let the diff spin while towing. If you wanted to eliminate the pinion from spinning, you could remove the ring gear from the carrier.. but I'd leave the rest of the guts in the carrier to keep it simple.

I've always hated greasing the wheel bearings on trailer axles... keeping track of the time or miles the trailer has, wondering if the bearings were ok whenever I loaned the trailer to a friend. I've seen too many trailers on the side of the freeway with one wheel missing to ignore that bit of maintenance.

So here's what I did... made a trailer out of the back half of an MJ pickup (the front was wrecked.) I got it with no rear axle, but I had a spare D35. So... I removed the ring gear carrier, took off the ring gear, mounted the carrier in my lathe, and turned off the gear flange. Then I took the gutted axle housing and mounted it, pinion up, on the table of my vertical mill. I cut away the about 4 inches of the nose of the housing, then cut a piece of 1/4" plate to shape, drilled and tapped a hole for a fill plug, and welded the plate to the housing nose.

Next I cut off the leaf spring perches, made new perches and welded them on so that the "pinion" nose was pointed straight up. I took a 3/4" thick piece of 6061 aluminum and made a new "rear cover" with a drain plug and countersunk holes for the mounting bolts. Put the carrier and axles back in with new bearings and seals, and filled it 1.5 quarts of gear lube. Now I never have to worry about greasing wheel bearings.